


a lil stressbaker

by jinwoosmile



Category: ASTRO (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Stress Baking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-10
Updated: 2016-11-10
Packaged: 2018-08-30 05:37:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8520529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jinwoosmile/pseuds/jinwoosmile
Summary: Everyone in Astro had different ways of dealing with stress. Dongmin, for example, tended to start hyper-organizing. Bin tapped unceasingly, Myungjun chewed on his lips, and Sanha would pick at things. Jinwoo himself usually tried to sweat his anxiety out, either by going for runs or to the gym.
But none of their ways of dealing with their stress, at least in Jinwoo’s opinion, really compared to Minhyuk’s.





	

Everyone in Astro had different ways of dealing with stress. Dongmin, for example, tended to start hyper-organizing. Jinwoo could always tell when Dongmin was feeling the heat, because when he’d get back to the dorm he’d find closets reorganized by group member and color, or the refrigerator cleaned out and neatly restocked. Bin tapped unceasingly- on his thighs, on tables, with pens and pencils. Myungjun chewed on his lips, and Sanha would pick- at his cuticles, at a pimple, at a scab. Jinwoo himself usually tried to sweat his anxiety out, either by going for runs or to the gym and working himself long enough that he’d fall asleep as soon as he lied down instead of being kept up by the nasty doubts in his head. 

But none of their ways of dealing with their stress, at least in Jinwoo’s opinion, really compared to Minhyuk’s.

The first time Jinwoo witnessed Minhyuk in the kitchen, it had been at Fantiago’s building, long before they’d even had thoughts of Rising Star, let alone debut as Astro; before he’d really gotten to know Minhyuk, even. He’d been headed down to the basement for a dance practice, and for some reason he could no longer remember, passed by the kitchen on his way.

He’d paused, mildly confused, when he saw Minhyuk in the kitchen, cooking away. When he’d asked what was going on, Minhyuk had given him a tight smile, then nodded at the camera he had sitting on the counter. “I-Teen Play video,” he’d said, and Jinwoo had nodded and continued on his way.

He didn’t really think much about it after that until they’d moved into the dorm together, and Jinwoo realized that Minhyuk didn’t buy the sweets that he brought to the company building so often- he made them.

Minhyuk called it stressbaking, and Jinwoo hadn’t yet heard a better term for it. Most of the members called it brilliant.

So it became a fact of life. Over two years, Jinwoo came to recognize the signs that they were going to wake up and find sweets littering the kitchen counters, and even made the habit of nipping out to the stores for ingredients he knew they didn’t have. He probably should have discouraged it, especially when they were supposed to be on diets, but he didn’t want to take away Minhyuk’s outlet for stress.

(The way Minhyuk’s face lit up when one of the members complimented something he baked was probably a bit of a factor, too.)

After they debuted, the frequency with which the sweets would turn up seemed to decrease a bit. They had become so busy, busier than Jinwoo thought was possible. And then they got even busier, as Hide and Seek promotions ended but they were still making appearances, while trying to juggle individual member schedules and begin preparing for their first comeback.

One particular night, Jinwoo hadn’t gone to sleep in the four-person room. Dongmin was still out on some personal schedule, and Bin had complained about being lonely until Jinwoo had said he’d sleep in the room with him. He’d slept for a couple hours before slowly waking up again, unsure of what made him rouse from his slumber.

With an unattractive snorting sound, Jinwoo rubbed a hand over his face before quietly getting up and slipping out of the room, careful not to wake the sleeping Bin on the top bunk.

As soon as he stumbled into the hallway, the smell of cake hit his nose and Jinwoo breathed deeply, savoring the scent. A smile playing at the corner of his mouth, Jinwoo proceeded into the living area. A beautifully iced cake was sitting on the counter–surrounded by dirty dishes and a dusting of flower seemed to coat the entire kitchen. 

With a shake of his head, Jinwoo padded to the living room, where he found Minhyuk sprawled on the couch.

“Oh Rocky,” Jinwoo said, a full smile breaking over his face as he crossed to the couch. Minhyuk was dead to the world, mouth hanging open, snoring lightly, flour smeared across one cheek and what looked like pink icing in the fringe of his hair. Jinwoo laughed as he scrambled to get one of their phones and took a few snapshots, just for himself.

After carefully returning the phone, Jinwoo shook Minhyuk’s shoulder. “Rocky-ah,” he said, unable to keep the laugh out of his voice. “Come to bed.”

Minhyuk never fully woke up, but he roused enough to shuffle through the dorm. Jinwoo followed him back to the bedroom, made sure he wiped the flour and icing off. Once Minhyuk was safely snoring in his top bunk with Myungjun, Jinwoo trotted back to the kitchen and looked at the dishes again. With a sigh, he rolled up the sleeves of his sweatshirt and started cleaning the kitchen. He could have left it for Minhyuk to deal with, but by the time they all got up in the morning, it would probably already be time to get in the van and go.

Plus, he didn’t really mind. Minhyuk feeling relaxed was worth a couple dishes.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr!](http://www.jinwoosmile.tumblr.com)


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